1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to an inkjet recording apparatus, in particular, an inkjet recording apparatus for curing an ink landed on a recording medium, by photo irradiation.
2. Description of Related Art
Conventionally, an inkjet recording apparatus has been known as the recording device capable of printing for various recording media including plain paper. The inkjet recording apparatus is the recording apparatus for forming an image on a recording medium by directly discharging an ink which is a color material from a nozzle placed on a side of a recording head facing the recording medium, and landing, infiltrating or fixing the ink on the recording medium. The inkjet recording apparatus has characteristic superiority in the simplicity of a process, the silence in printing, and the quality of printing texts and pictures.
As the inkjet recording apparatus, there is the apparatus where, for example, a serial head system which forms an image by moving a recording head back and forth on a recording medium and conveying the recording medium in the direction perpendicular to the scan direction of the recording head, and a line head system which comprises a recording head and forms an image by conveying a recording medium in the direction perpendicular to the direction of recording width of the recording medium, the recording head fixed and comprising a nozzle array extending across the recording width of the recording medium, is adopted.
In late years, in the case where image recording is performed by using an inkjet recording apparatus, materials without ink absorption characteristics such as resin or metal have been used as recording media. In addition, in order to fix an ink to such recording medium, a photo curable ink is often used.
A light irradiating device for curing an ink is usually placed in the inkjet recording apparatus using the photo curable ink. When an image is recorded on the recording medium, the ink is cured and fixed by irradiating the ultraviolet rays from a light source which the light irradiating device comprises, in the condition of certain irradiation time and the number of times of irradiation where the ink can be cured, just after the ink has been landed on the recording medium (refer to, for example, JP-Tokukai 2001-310454 A).